Always
by FrivolousFairytale
Summary: Valentine's Day at any age is petrifying, but even more so in the fifth grade. Blaine's moved into a new class with Jeff but, after only a few months since he'd come out to his best friend, Blaine is worried if Jeff still wants him around.


**Disclaimer: As per usual, I own absolutely nothing in this fic. Not the characters, references or the television shows and movies that they may be from. Wish I did... but I don't, so I'm going to weep in a corner because of my poor luck.**

_**Anyway, this is a story for my lovely twin (soul twin) Kelsie. Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you like it. :)**_

* * *

><p>It had only been a few months since the heartbreaking scene shared in Jeff Sterling's bedroom. While he would never admit it out loud, Blaine was dreading this up-coming Valentine's Day. When his mother offered to take him to get Power Rangers cards to distribute among his classmates, he had refused with a cry of gut-wrenching dismay. It had not taken very long for the rumour of his sexuality to spread among the easily impressionable minds of the elementary school. The teachers insisted they turned a blind eye to it, but they were still prejudice and cast him wary glances whenever they thought he wasn't looking. Luckily, of course, enough sobbing and complaints to the principal permitted him to switch into his best friend's class. Things were looking up, but not by much.<p>

As he bustled in to the classroom, snuggled up in his red and gold striped scarf that Jeff's mother had knitted him after they had started reading the Harry Potter books under the make shift pillow fort in Blaine's living room. His faithful friend, in all his tousled, blonde haired glory sat in his assigned seat near the back of the room. "M-morning Jeffie," he cooed, fumbling to remove his scarf. The dark haired boy ruffled his own hair in embarrassment as he shuffled over to his cubby by the window.

Blaine crouched, before falling the rest of the short distance to the ground. He wiggled his rear to the rhythm of some mental tune, grabbing at his indoor shoes to change into. Jeff had yet to acknowledge him, and Blaine thought it might have been deliberate, though he shuddered at the idea. It couldn't be so. Hazel eyes darted around worriedly as students began to filter in, one by one. The short boy let out a frightened whimper as he was pushed and shoved through the sea of bodies to his desk. He was tempted to send a folded note back to Jeff, asking him what was wrong, but feared it might be misinterpreted by the youngsters too heavily influenced by the atrocious number of chalk hearts up on the blackboard.

Arithmetic and art class had dragged by at a painstakingly slow pace, the complete opposite of Blaine's breathing; he didn't know what to do if Jeff continued to ignore him. All Blaine had managed to colour in his disheartened state was the blue Power Ranger, which he knew to be Jeff's favourite. He sniffled a little, determined to stay in his place until the teacher ushered him out.

"What about Jeffie— Jeff?" he asked quietly, correcting himself. He was always frowned at if he spoke in a baby voice. Blaine stared longingly at the lanky blonde, who's hair covered his eyes as he bent his head over something unknown even to Miss, as the students insisted she be called.

The rest of the day had taken a similar turn. Jeff focused on his work, and Blaine casting him pathetically depressing glances when he thought no one else could see. To the brunette, it was just him and best friend in the whole wide world… it seemed, however, that Jeff had let someone in unannounced.

After recess, the class mixed together to hand out their Valentines and their treats. Empty handed, Blaine excused himself to use the washroom in hopes that he would miss out of the festivities entirely. As he tripped down the hallway, he could already hear the obnoxious giggles of every fifth grade girl trying to catch Jeff's attention. The way Blaine pictured it, the boy would be coloured to his roots and up to his knees in tiny chocolates and suckers that tasted of cherry medicine. It made him jealous to think, if not today then certainly someday, that someone would take away his best friend. "My soulmate…" he whispered to himself, squeaking back a sob.

He stayed there for what felt like hours in the tiny cubicle, staring at his feet, but it was only a matter of thirty minutes until he was paged over the P.A. system to return to class.

Blaine mentally fast forwarded through the Charlie Brown movie he'd seen a thousand times over, though usually seated next to Jeff so they could whisper and chuckle amongst themselves. When the final bell rang, he found himself seated alone, like marble, while everyone else rushed to meet their parents or catch a bus. He couldn't bring himself to move.

What he hadn't noticed, however, was that one less chair scraped back against the aging tile than was customary. "Aha," came a proud voice behind him, the sound of crayons and scissors clattering to the desktop. "I'm finally done." Jeff, the last person Blaine had expected to see, strut triumphantly to his desk and slapped down the glitteriest Valentine's card the brunette had ever seen.

"Whoah…" he gasped, staring up at his friend with reddened eyes. Not wanting to get too ahead of himself, he lowered his gaze shyly. "…Abigail is going to love it."

"It's not for Abby, silly, it's for you!"

"Wh-what…? But… why? I-I didn't think you wanted to be my friend anymore. You didn't even come play with me at recess," he whined in puppy fashion, pursing his quivering lips.

"W-well I'm sorry Blainers… but I wanted to make sure your card was perfect to stand out from all the… other… cards."

There were no others.

"Cause like… yeah! And look," he opened the card. "Here's you and me riding on a dinosaur… and this is you marrying someone awesome… and here's me yelling 'I LOVE YOU BLAINERS!' so isn't that like, totally cool?"

Blaine said nothing.

"I worked **really **hard on in, Blainers… say something."

Silence.

"You don't like it?"

Twin sniffles echoed in the empty classroom— Jeff's that of desperation, Blaine's of bliss.

"I love you…?"

Blaine bolted from his seat, just as Jeff made to crumple to his knees, and threw his arms around the blonde. He nuzzled against his neck, his inky curls tickling Jeff's ear. A stream of salty tears cascaded down the taller boy's cheeks, dripping off his chin to wet Blaine's hair.

"Stop… please?" was his quiet plea to his friend. Blaine reached out a tiny hand to wipe away some of his tears. "A-angels are too beautiful to cry…"

Jeff looked up at him, stunned.

"B-but if… if you need to… then I'mma be here to help you dry your face when you're all done, mmk? I have a special hanky and everything. …Well, okay, so it's just my scarf… but I can wash it if you get snoogies on the colours. Y-you— I l-love you t-too and—" his voice cracked, he was unable to continue on with the amount of emotion rising in his chest.

He fluttered about Jeff worriedly, trying to smooth his hair from the mess it had become. The other male caught his hands in his own, and tugged gently enough to have Blaine's lay against his heart. "I'm no angel," he said. "But for you I'll try to be anything. I'll do anything… for you… s-so please don't be sad."

"Will you stay… w-with me?" he bumbled, pulling his colouring book from his desk to neatly rip out the picture of the blue Power Ranger to pass to Jeff.

"It's beautiful Blainers," he cheered, pecking him on the cheek. "And yes, yes of course I will."

"For a long time, forever and ever even if we get married and you have kids…?"

"Yes."

"Even if your wife doesn't like me?"

"Mhmmm."

"Even if I don't grow any taller than I am now?"

"Definitely."

"Even if I wreck your pokemon cards?"

"Where is this going—?"

"Even if I say cinnamon is better than strawberries and that I think you're a looney for still taking bubble baths?"

Jeff gasped, then forced himself to settle down— Blaine **knew **how he felt about strawberries. He sucked in a breath before answering. "Blainers?"

"Yes?"

"I promise."

"So you'll be my Valentine and make me cards and pig out on chocolate and watch movies with me **every **year?"

"Of course."

"Even… after all that… You'll still want to after all those years? After all that time?"

"Always."


End file.
